Online Treasure: Photogrammar

Many Americans are familiar with at least a few of the haunting images taken at the behest of the federal government during the Great Depression and World War II. Dorothea Lange’s haunting "Migrant Mother" is among the most reproduced of the massive archive of material. Yale University has teamed with programmers to create a map and subject and metadata search options to dig into the 170,000 photographs created by the United States Farm Security Administration and the Office of War Information (FSA-OWI) from 1935 to 1945.

The Photogrammar is an excellent way to explore the American past. There are hard times, labor unrest, Hollywood glamour, and war production on view in just the handful of selections in the slideshow below.